How to Make a Dory Costume

Dressing up as Dory is a great way to match your little clownfish.

Dory is the lovable but forgetful Blue Tang that appears as Marlin's sidekick in the 2003 Pixar animated film "Finding Nemo." In the film, Dory is voiced by Ellen deGeneres and suffers from short-term memory loss -- though she is the only multilingual fish character and her talents get the pair out of many scrapes. Her positivity and unflagging good cheer makes her a great role model for children, even if she is a fish.

Things You'll Need

• Blue hooded sweatshirt
• Black paint
• Silver glitter
• Scissors
• Gauzy yellow fabric
• Needle
• Thread
• Blue pants or skirt and tights
• Yellow shoes
• Blue, black and yellow makeup

Instructions

1. Looking at a picture of Dory for reference, paint her black patterns over the hood, back and sides of the blue sweatshirt. Sprinkle on some silver glitter to make the pattern look wet. Let dry.

2. Cut two round shapes -- about a foot in diameter -- out of the yellow fabric. Cut holes in their centers big enough to fit your wrists through. Thread these holes over the wrists of the sweatshirt. Sew the inner rim to the sweatshirt -- when the sweatshirt is worn, the fabric should flutter down over the hands. Paint black paint over the seams and sprinkle with glitter. Let dry.

3. Cut a large trapezoid -- about 2 feet long, with one 1-foot end and one 1 1/2-foot end -- out of the yellow fabric. Sew the short end to the back center hem of the sweatshirt, so it flutters down as a tail. Paint over the seam with black paint and sprinkle with glitter. Let dry.

4. Wear this sweatshirt with the blue pants or blue skirt and tights, as well as the yellow shoes. Do your makeup to match -- heavy blue and black eyeliner to suggest Dory's scale patterns, with yellow accents. Use more silver glitter on your face and in your hair to make yourself look wet.

Tips & Warnings

• If your hair is right for it, spray it up into a Mohawk -- preferably blue or black -- to suggest Dory's dorsal fin.

References

• The Leaping Lamp: The Dory Finding Nemo Page
• Coolest Homemade Costumes: Goldfish 9